Cardinals manager Oli Marmol provided a litany of injury updates yesterday to reporters, including Lynn Worthy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Among those was an update on catcher Willson Contreras, who took a 103 mph sinker from Cardinals flamethrower Jordan Hicks off his knee in the season’s opener on Thursday and had to be helped off the field. Both x-rays and an MRI came back negative, and Contreras said he could return to the lineup as soon as today after briefly catching warm-up pitches for Jack Flaherty between innings on Saturday.
Contreras, 31 in May, was the Cardinals’ biggest addition of the offseason on a five-year, $87.5MM deal. Prior to signing with St. Louis, Contreras was the everyday catcher for the division rival Cubs since his debut during the 2016 season, posting a 118 wRC+ in seven seasons and racking up three All Star appearances. One of those All Star selections came during the 2022 campaign, which was the best of Contreras’s career: in 113 games, Contreras posted a career low 21.1% strikeout rate and career highs in both wRC+ and fWAR despite a career-low BABIP of just .270.
In signing Contreras, the Cardinals appear to have found their replacement not only to Yadier Molina behind the plate, but also to the thump Albert Pujols provided their lineup in 2022. Given his importance to the club, it’s surely a relief for St. Louis that Contreras’s leg injury is not particularly serious. Andrew Knizner started behind the plate in Saturday’s game, with Taylor Motter and Brendan Donovan among the possible options to catch on an emergency basis while Contreras was unavailable.
More from St. Louis…
- Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar also suffered an injury during the season opener on Thursday, having injured his thumb on a slide into third base. Nootbaar, who was out of the lineup yesterday and hopes to play catch today, is considered day-to-day. The 25 year-old outfielder was a revelation for the Cardinals last year, slashing .228/.340/.448 in 108 games with a 20.5% strikeout rate and a phenomenal 14.5% walk rate. While Nootbaar is unavailable, Dylan Carlson figures to take the newly-available starts in the outfield alongside Jordan Walker and Tyler O’Neill.
- Reliever Giovanny Gallegos has yet to make his season debut after suffering from back tightness ahead of season opener on Thursday. Marmol expressed optimism about Gallegos, however, noting that his MRI came back clean and that, in a best case scenario, Gallegos could be available out of the bullpen as soon as today. Gallegos has been among the most reliable relievers in the game since he was acquired by the Cardinals in 2018, posting identical ERA and FIP figures of 2.82 in 229 2/3 innings of work while racking up 33 saves.
- Starting pitcher Adam Wainwright still appears a ways away from returning from the injured list to make his season debut, as he progressed to playing catch off flat ground yesterday. On the shelf with a groin injury suffered in the weight room while with Team USA during the World Baseball Classic, the 41 year-old Wainwright is set to retire at season’s end. Wainwright has seen a late-career resurgence in recent years, posting a 3.34 ERA and 3.72 FIP in 463 2/3 innings since the start of the 2020 season. Until Wainwright is ready for his season debut, right-hander Jake Woodford is set to take his turn in the rotation.
Brendan Donovan doesn’t play catcher. Not sure who you meant instead.
It said Donovan might be used at catcher in an emergency. Donovan plays multiple positions already and is young so this makes sense. Who should be their emergency catcher, Goldschmidt?
Motter is the emergency.
He’s always been on the list of emergency catchers.
I was watching the game and the announcers definitely said that Brendan Donovan was the emergency catcher
cardinal announcers have a history of alcohol abuse.
Thanks for the useless information that has nothing to do with what they were talking about
Real question
Aren’t coaches allowed to play in emergency situations?
NHL had my leafs lose to the Zamboni driver we “lent” to the Hurricanes because they had 0 goaltenders healthy and available
I’m 99.9% certain coaches can’t play.
I believe that rule is specific to hockey. They don’t even lend out goalkeepers in soccer when both go down with injury.
no, coaches are not eligible
Donovan don’t no squat about catching?
I bet he’s forgotten more about catching than you’ve ever known.
I bet he’s forgotten more about catching than you’ve ever known
I bet he’s forgotten more about catching than you’ve ever known.
I bet D has forgotten more about rows of carts than dog has ever known about water, or mike about front desks.
Man, Donovan has probably FORGOTTEN more about catching than you will EVER know, DC!
Donovan knows more about forgetting than you’ll ever catch.
I wonder how much more patience Marmol is going to show to Jordan Hicks. At some point, Marmol is going to have to discontinue using Hicks as the set up man for Helsley.. Hicks still throws at over 100 miles per hour, but he was ineffective at getting outs all spring. On opening day he injures Contreras with a wild pitch, gives uo three hits, a walk, and two runs in the 8th inning. In game two he walks three in the 8th and gives up another run.. He seems like he cannot get the job done anymore since he had surgery.
Hicks is a thrower, not a pitcher. Flame-throwing per se is way overrated.
He’s been unreliable for his entire career, but the major issue is an unwillingness to improve upon his issues. At the beginning, these incidents could be viewed as youthful mistakes. Now, he is old enough to know better and to not make the adjustments is what becomes the unforgivable part. He’s either lacking the intelligence to improve, lacking the desire to improve, or both.
103 mph sinker?
Yeah it’s crazy how much movement he has on his pitches coming in over 100mph, I don’t see how hitters get the bat on it, but for some reason the results don’t match
They should have traded Jordan Hicks years ago just like they should trade their 6’6, 245lb overhyped singles hitter Jordan Walker before he too gets exposed as a sure fire, can’t miss, failed prospect.
The singles hitter who has slugged over .500 and had 25 homers the last two years?
Guess you forgot the …in AA ball part.
Where he was 4 years younger than the average age of the league. He’s going to hit homers.
The guy is a babbling moron. It’s best to ignore or mute him as nothing he says has a basis in reality or a semblance of intelligent thought.
And you’ve done neither so perhaps take your own advice champ.
The comment about Walker is way off base jerk. I watched him all year at AA and I assure you he is a major league hitter! The GAME doesn’t need another.210 hitter that hits 20 homers, this guy does it all, go watch the Cubs jerk
Sanchez was still available for a reason!
St Louis Cardinals front office miss the boat.They should have had Gary Sanchez already In camp as a back up catcher.
This way there would be no rush to get W C back on the field.
Bad move St Louis Cardinals
Sanchez is a horrible catcher. Why would they want to have him available?
This assumes Sanchez would want to be a depth signing. He has a better chance to start for SF with Bart struggling to begin his career.
The Cards have plenty of glove-first depth. Not an issue.
Cardinals will regret signing Contreras,he is soft
He is the opposite of soft, this guy plays through injuries.
He is not durable.has never even played 140gms in a season.
So which one is it? He’s soft or he’s not durable? Or neither one and you’re speaking for the sake of being heard?
How many catchers play 140 games in a season?
None this day and age
I take it back, one, Sean Murphy, with the benefit of DH.
Most catchers don’t play more than 140 games in a season. That’s why backup catchers exist: to give them a day off every week or so. Yadier only played more than 140 games once in his career.
The missed opportunity for titling this Cardinal Noots is a sin. Unforgivable.
Calling Nootbar a revelation makes me think you don’t what that word means. Or your expectations were so low that a 4th outfielder impresses you.
That stood out to me as well. He’s a fine player, but far from a revelation. There’s a lot of these words that get misused lately with the biggest example being ‘unprecedented’. It’s mostly done to disguise middling writing and a lack of general variety in one’s vocabulary.
Nootbaar is better than 4th outfielder but the extreme hype is wearing a bit thin until he proves he’s a top outfielder
Nootbar lol
I don’t care how much you walk, if you can’t hit. That batting average from last year should have put him on the bubble for making the team. Noots getting way too much credit for his production level.
He’s on the team for his hard hit rate and his barrel rate. They are quite high. That very stongly implies he will start hitting well. He’s having bad luck by hitting the ball hard right at a defender. That luck will change eventually.
On the bubble for making the team, lol. CardsFan57 is the only one commenting on Nootbar who knows anything about player evaluation. All you guys obsessing over batting average like it’s 1915 or something.
Batting average??? Sure thing grandpa.
Any revelation about a .228 hitter isn’t a good one.
There are metrics far more indicative of skill and potential than BA, which is why there’s a lot of hype around him.
Batting Average Matters…..BAM
I don’t know? How about both!,does that answer your question? Would you like me to fill out a questionnaire?
Dylan Carlson is much better than a fourt or even fifth outfielder. He’d start for 90% of MLB teams.
Yeah, every Cardinal is a superstar (eye roll).
Their 5th outfielder has hit a home run and two doubles in his first 3 at bats today. Just saying.
Yeah, go ahead and hang your hat on that knee-jerk reaction.
That same guy had an excellent spring and has been a high average line drive power hitter at every level. His home run was to the opposite field. He’s not a surprise. He’s a top 100 prospect. The only 4th outfielders on the Cardinals roster are currently playing in Memphis. They have 5 starters on the active roster.
Sure they do. (Eye roll) Nobody else in MLB could possibly start for St. Louis. (Guffaw!)
That’s a really bad straw man. I didn’t say anything like that.
You cant argue with posters that dont know the game or the players. Best you can do is ignore them ot mute them.
He’s got the intelligence of your typical window pane.
I love how when he was with the Cubs, everyone said Willie was awful defensively. And that he didnt call a good game. etc etc. Now all we hear is how great he is. There’s a reason why the Cubs didn’t want him back and it wasn’t money.
Motter makes sense as the emergency catcher seeing as he sucks so much at the plate that he might as well catch.
Donovan adding muscle and using a bigger bat has really paid off. He will be an All Star if he keeps that pop in his bat. He already had great on base skills.
Dude. Glad you enjoy your team, but back away from the bong.
Did Donovan finish third for Rookie of the year and win a gold glove last year before adding noticeable pop to his bat? No bong hits here. I did say if he maintains that new pop. He already has all the other skills.
It’s easy to get excited about this team. Roll your eyes all you want.
I’m even more happy that Gorman made the necessary adjustments to close the holes in his swing. Marmol mentioned being pleased about that early this spring.
Nootbar is such an overrated player. Nice walk rate and some power, but I fail to see what is so amazing??
How is he overrated though? Maybe it has something to do with the 90th percentile batted ball results and 25% above league average batting line, despite a .248 BABIP.